Synchronous-motor electric audible-signal clock



Dec. 15, 1931. E. L. CARLSON 1,835,956

SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR ELECTRIC A'UDIBLE SIGNAL CLOCK Filed Jun e 13, 1930 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 15, 1931. CARLSON 1,836,956

SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR ELECTRIC AUDIBLE SIGNAL CLOCK Filed June 15, 1930 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 15, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELOFL. CARLSON, F BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE E. INGRAHAM COM-PANY, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION SYNCHRONOUS-MOTOR ELECTRICAUDIBLE-SIGNAL CLOCK Application filed June 18, 1930. Serial No.460,860.

This invention relates to an improvement in electric audible-signalclocks such as alarm clocks, strike clocks, chime clocks, orcombinations of the same and relates in particular to electric clocks ofthe character referred to which are driven by continuouslyrotatingsynchronous motors and of the same general type as that shown in myco-pending application filed June 13, 1930, Serial No. 160,861. and alsoin my co-pending application filed March 8, 1930. Serial Xo.-134,347.

The main object of this invention is to provide an electric clock of thetype referred to with improved and substantially troubleproof means forperiodically coupling an audible signal mechanism to thecontinuouslyrotating synchronous motor utilized for driving thetime-indicating means.

ith the above and other objects in View,

r: as will appear from the following, my invention consists in anelectric audible-signal clock characterized by its provision with acontinuously-rotating synchronous electric motor; time-indicating meansdriven thereby; a normallv-idle audible-signal 'mechanism actuatable bythe said motor; means for coupling the said audible-signal mechanism toand uncoupling the same from the said motor, including a pair ofcomplementary gears. one of which is constantly driven by the said motorand the other of which is operativ'ely connected to the saidaudiblesignal mechanism, and an intermediate gear mounted with capacityfor being shifted edgewise into and out of osition to interconnect thesaid pair 0 complementary gears: and an automatic control-mechanismitself controlled by the said synchronous motor and operativelyconnected to the said intermediate gear for moving the same edgewiseinto and out of its gear-interconnecting position for automaticallyeffecting the periodic operation of the said audible-signal mechanism.

My invention further consists in an electric audible-signal clockcharacterized as above and having certain other details of constructionand combinations of parts as will be hereinafter described andparticularly recited in the claims.

mechanism has been automatically coupled to the motor for actuationthereby;

Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of the gear-shifting lever,together with the gears organized therewith; and

Fig. 5 is a detached perspective view of the resilient alarm-controllever.

In the alarm clock herein chosen for the illustration of my invention, Iemploy a synchronous motor which may be of any approved form and-inprinciple is so well understood in the art as to require no descriptionother than to say that it is enclosed within a casing secured to therear movement-plate 11 of the movement. and is provided with an arbor 12forwardly projecting through an aperture'13 in the said rearmovement-plate, and carrying a driving-pinion 11 meshing into anddriving a gear-wheel 15 mounted upon an arbor 16 journalled at its rearend in the rear movement-plate 11, already referred to. and at its frontend journalled in the complementary front movement-plate 17 coupled tothe said rear movement-plate by the usual pillars 18.

The arborvl6, above referred to, carries near its rear end a pinion 19.meshing into and driving a minute-wheel 20 the center-arbor 21. The saidcenter-arbor is journalled in the rear and front movement-plates 11 and17 and projects forwardstaked upon 1y from the latter and carries at itsextreme forward end a minute-hand 22 indicated by broken lines in Fig.2.

Immediately forward of the front movement-plate 17 the center-arbor :21,above described, has-secured to it a cannon-pinion 23 meshing into anddriving a dial-wheel '21. carrying a dial-pinion 25 and mounted togetherwith the same upon a stud 26 forwardly proj eoting from the frontmovementplate 17 in the usual manner of clock-dial work. The dial-pinion25 meshes into and drives an hour-wheel 27 staked upon an hour-sleeve28, sleeved over and rotating freely upon the projecting forward end ofthe center-arbor 21, and carrying at its forward end the usual hour-hand29, indicated by broken lines in Fig. 2.

The parts previously described constitute a synchronous time-train forindicating the time in consonance with the beat of an alternatingcurrent, in the usual manner of synchronous-motor electric clocks.

The dial-pinion 25 before referred to also meshes into and drives analarm-cam wheel 30 staked to the hub 31 of a sleeve-like alarmcam 32mounted upon the forward end of an alarm-set stafi 33 with freedom forrelative rotation and axial movement thereon. The said sleeve-likealarm-cam 32 is formed with the usual alarmmam contour, consisting of arise 34, a low-point 35, and a high-dwell 36.

The alarm-set stafl 33 carries at its forward end a radially-offsettingalarm-cam finger 37 co-acting with the outer face of the alarm-cam 32 inthe usual manner of alarm clocks, and at its rear end mounts the usualknurled finger-button 38.

The rear end of the hub 31 of the alarm cam 32 bears against the frontface of an alarm-control lever 39 preferably made of spring-metal andsecured at one end by means of a rivet 40 to the front movement plate17, and provided intermediate its ends with a slot 41 for the clearanceof the alarmset staff 33, and at its opposite end carrying a cam-finger42 projecting rearward through a clearance-opening 43 in the said frontmovement-plate for engagement with the edge of a vertically-arrangedgear-shifting lever 44. v

The gear-shifting lever44 just above referred to is formed ofsheet-metal and has its lower end bent rearward and upward to form anarm 45 rearwardly-spaced from the body proper of the lever 44, as shownin Figs. 2 and 4, to form a space 46 for the accommodation of what Ishall, for convenience of description, refer to as a driven gear orpinion 47 and for the accommodation of an intermediate gear or pinion48, which latter is constantly in mesh with the driven gear or pinion 47and is shiftable edgewise, as will hereinafter appear, for being meshedinto the constantly-rotating pinion 14 upon the shaft 12 of thesynchronous motor 10.

The said lever 44 is pivotally mounted upon the reduced forward end ofan arbor 49 upon which the driven gear or pinion 47 before referred tois staked and which bears at its opposite ends in the front and rearmovementplates- 17 and 11. A shoulder 50 upon the said arbor 49 servesto prevent the rearward displacement of the lever, while a collar 51bearing against the front face of the said gear-shifting lever 44proper, serves to prevent its forward displacement while permitting freeswinging movement with respect to the said arbor 49. The intermediategear or pinion 48 is mounted upon an arbor 52 j ournalled at its forwardend in the lever 44 proper and at its rear end in the upturned arm 45thereof. a

Near its rear end, the arbor 49, upon which the lever 44 rocks, asbefore set forth, has

staked to it a hammer-actuating wheel 53 having its periphery formedwith triangular teeth 54 coacting with an actuating-pin 55forwardly-oflsetting from a hammer-arm 56 about midway the lengththereof. The said hammer-arm is formed of sheet-metal and is provided atits upper end with an integral cross-bar 57 terminating at itsrespective opposite ends in trunnions 58 rocking in suitablebearing-openings in the front and rear movement-plates 17 and 11.

The hammer-arm 56 is swung from right to left so as to cause its head 59to strike a bell 60 by means of a torsion-spring 61, the said. bellbeing supported by a U-shaped bracket 62 depending from the lower edgeof the front movement-plate 17 To provide for manually shutting off thealarm-mechanism after the same has been au-v tomatically sounded, Iemploy a horizontally arranged reciprocating alarm shut-01f plunger 63mounted for reciprocation in the front and rear movement-plates 17 and11, as shown in Fig. 2, and carrying a conical shutoff cam 64 adapted toengage the left-hand edge of the gear-shifting lever 44 when the saidplunger is moved, as indicated by'broken lines in Fig. 2,-to swing thesaid lever from left to right against the counter-urge of a helicalspring 65, as required to de-mesh the intermediate pinion 48 from thedriving-pinion 14, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

In the operation of the alarm clock herein chosen for the illustrationof my invention,

the synchronous motor efiects the continuous rotation of the minute-hand22, hour-hand 29, the alarm-cam 32, the motor-pinion 14, but since thegear-shifting lever 44 is normally held in its retired position, asshown in Fig. 1, together with the intermediate pinposition, as shown byfull lines in Fig.- 2, by means of its finger-button 66 to permit suchaction.

WVhen the cam 32 and its hub 31 are snapped forward by the resilientalarm-con trol lever 39, as just above described, the camfingier 42 ofthe latter will move forward and permit the gear-shifting, lever 44 tobe swung from right to left by the spring 65, with the effect of meshingthe intermediate pinion 48 with the continuously-rotating pinion 14,thereby coupling the hammer-actuating wheel 53 to the said pinion 14 andhence to the motor for being rotated thereby.

The rotation of the hammer-actuating wheel 53 as thus efl'ected willcause the teeth 54 thereof to alternately swing the hammerarm 56 outwardand then permit the same to be snapped inward by the spring-61 at closeintervals so as to effect the sounding of an alarm or otheraudiblesignal.

When it is desired to check the sounding of the alarm. the user of theclock slides the alarm shut-oft" plunger 63 forward by means of itsfinger-button 66 and thereby causing the conical cam 64 to swing thegear-shifting lever 44 from the position in which it is shown in Fig. 3to the position in which it is shown in Fig. 1. with the effect ofde-meshing the intermediate pinion 48 from the continuouslyrotatingpinion 14 and hence disconnecting the hammer-actuating wheel 53 from thesynchronous motor.

The continued rotation of the alarm-cam wheel 30 will eventually causethe alarm-cam 32, together with the said wheel, to move axially inwardunder the alarm-cam finger 37 and thus cause the hub 31 to flex theresilient alarm-control lever 39 inward, with the effect of engaging thecam-finger 42 thereof with the adjacent edge of the gear-shifting lever44 to move the same from the position in which it is shown in Fig. 3into the position in which it is shown in Fig. 2.

The alarm-control lever 39 will now have assumed the task of holding thesaid gearshifting lever 44 in its retired position, until the nextautomatic release of the alarm after the manual shut-off device has beenretired out of action by sliding the plunger 63 rearward, as alreadydescribed.

By employing an intermediate pinion which is shiftable edgewise, thecoupling and uncoupling of the alarm-actuating mechanism or othersuitable audible-signal mechanism is readily accomplished withoutoccasioning a jamming of the parts, which might result in the stallingof the entire clock. v

It willbe understood by those skilled in the art that my invention mayassume varied physical forms without departing from my inventiveconcept, and I, therefore, do not limit myself to the specificembodiment herein chosen for illustration, but only as indicated in theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In an electric audible-signal clock, the combination with acontinuously-rotating electric motor; time-indicating means driventhereby a normally-idle audible-signal mechanism actuat-able by the saidmotor; means for coupling the said audible-signal mechanism to anduncoupling the same from the said motor, including a pair ofcomplementary gears, one of which is constantly driven by the said motorand the other of which is operat-ively connected to the saidaudible-signal mechanism, and an intermediate gear mounted with capacityfor edgewise movement into and out of position to interconnect the saidpair of complementary gears; and an automatic control-mechanismincluding a spring operatii'ely connected to the said intermediate gearand exerting an effort to move the same edgewise into position tointerconnect the said pair of complementary gears, and a cam for movingthe said intermediate gear into its retired position against thecounter-urge of the said spring.

2. In an electric audible-signal clock, the combination with acontinuously-rotating electric motor; time-indicating means driventhereby; a normally-idleaudible-signal mechanism actuatable by the saidmotor; means for coupling the said audible-signal mechanism to anduncouplingthe same from the said motor, including a driving gearpropelled bythe said motor, a driven gear operatively connected to thesaid mechanism, and an intermediate gear mounted with capacityforedgewise and an automatic control-mechanism including aspringoperatively connected to the said intermediate gear and exerting aconstant effort to move the same edgewise into mesh with the saiddriving gear, and a cam for moving the said intermediate gear out ofmesh with the said driving gear against the counter-urge of the saidspring.

3. In an electric audible-signal clock, the combination with acontinuously-rotating electric motor; time-indicating means driventhereby; a normally-idle audible-signal mech anism ac-tuatable by thesaid motor; means for coupling the said audible-signal mechanism to anduncoupling the same from the said motor, including a pair ofcomplementary gears, one of which is constantly driven by the said motorand the other of which is operatively connected'to the saidaudible-signal mechanism, a gear-shifting lever mounted with capacityfor pivotal movement concentrically with respect to one of the said pairof complementary gears, and an intermediate gear,mounted upon the saidgearshifting lever for edgewise movement therewith and constantly inmesh with the gear with respect to which the said lever isconcentrically mounted; and an automatic controlaudible-signalmovementand constantly in mesh with the said driven gear;

mechanism including a spring connected to the said gear-shifting leverand exerting an efiort to swing the same in a direction required formeshing the said intermediate gear with the other of the said pair ofcomplementary gears, and a cam for swinging the said gear-shifting leverinto its retired position against the counter-urge of the said spring.

4. In an electric audible-signal clock, the l combination with acontinuously-rotating electric motor; time-indicating means driventhereby a normally-idle audiblesignal mechanism actuatab-le by thesaidmotor; means for coupling the said audible-signal mechanism to anduncoupling the same from the said motor, including a driving gearpropelled by the said motor, a driven gear 0peratively connected to thesaid audible-signal mechanism, a gear-shifting lever mounted withcapacity for pivotal movement concentrically with respect to the saiddriven gear, and an intermediate gear mounted upon the saidgear-shifting lever for edgewise movement therewith and constantly inmesh with '25 the saiddriven gear"; and an automatic con-,trol-mechanism including a spring connected to the said gear-shiftinglever and exerting an effort to swing the same in a direction requiredfor meshing the said intermediate gear with the said driving gear, and acam for swinging the said gear-shifting lever into its retired positionagainst the counter-urge of the said'spring.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

ELOF L. CARLSON.

